A modest screwdriver salesman in Onitsha’s bustling main market has emerged as an improbable influence on US foreign policy, with his disputed claims about Christian killings in Nigeria cited by Republican lawmakers and contributing to President Donald Trump’s decision to launch airstrikes against alleged ISIS targets in Sokoto State on Christmas Day 2025.
Emeka Umeagbalasi, founder of the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), runs his tiny tool shop while operating the organisation from his home.
The Catholic activist claims to have documented 125,000 Christian deaths in Nigeria since 2009, along with over 7,000 killings in the first seven months of 2025 alone. His figures, often shared through reports relying on secondary sources like news articles, Google searches, and Christian advocacy groups such as Open Doors, have been referenced by US figures, including Senator Ted Cruz, Representative Riley Moore, and Representative Chris Smith, to highlight the alleged targeted persecution of Christians.
Umeagbalasi described the US airstrikes—carried out in coordination with Nigerian authorities against ISIS-linked camps in Sokoto—as “miraculous,” viewing them as validation of his long-standing warnings that “if nothing is done, Nigeria will explode.”
However, a New York Times investigation published on January 18, 2026, has cast significant doubt on the reliability of Umeagbalasi’s methodology. He admitted in interviews that he rarely verifies data firsthand, seldom travels to conflict zones like the Middle Belt, and often assumes victims’ religion based on location—for instance, presuming attacks in southern Borno target Christians, despite many Boko Haram victims being Muslim.
Experts, including Nnamdi Obasi of the International Crisis Group, have criticised Intersociety’s figures as containing “basic addition” errors and methodological flaws, describing them as unreliable with heavy confirmation bias. Nigerian officials, including a spokesman for the foreign minister, dismissed the research as “performative” and full of fallacies.
Prominent voices like Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto emphasise that violence stems from a weak state failing to protect all citizens, not solely religious targeting, with independent monitors like ACLED recording broader civilian deaths without clear religious disaggregation.
The airstrikes, which Trump framed as a response to “radical, terrorist scum” targeting Christians, hit sites in Sokoto—a predominantly Muslim area with historical significance—raising questions about the accuracy of the intelligence and narratives driving US intervention.
While some Nigerian Christian leaders have welcomed the action as a step against insecurity, analysts warn that oversimplifying complex conflicts involving banditry, herder-farmer clashes, and jihadist groups risks exacerbating tensions.
Umeagbalasi remains undeterred, continuing his work from Onitsha and preparing new reports on what he calls “jihadist terrorism.” The episode highlights how unverified local advocacy can reach global policy levels, amid ongoing debates over Nigeria’s security crisis, which affects communities of all faiths.